Drug Related

MEXICO CITY - Police said Wednesday they uncovered possible drug paraphernalia in Francisco ``Paco'' Stanley's minivan, fueling speculation that the comedian's slaying Monday was a drug-related hit. Police said they searched Stanley's Lincoln minivan for clues to his slaying and found a small mortar and pestle, items frequently used to crush cocaine into powder. Medical examiners also confirmed they found traces of cocaine in Stanley's blood. Meanwhile, Stanley's son, Francisco Daniel, criticized news accounts linking his father to drug dealers.

SANFORD - A 24-year-old Longwood man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison today for taking part in a drug deal that turned into a shootout and homicide at a luxury apartment complex near Lake Mary in December. In March Patrick Casey pleaded no contest to third-degree felony murder and attempting to sell marijuana. Today he was sentenced by Circuit Judge Marlene Alva, who imposed a 2 1/2-year prison term to be followed by 4 1/2 years of probation. Larry Felton, 19, was killed as he tried to drive away from what was court records show was an attempt by him and a friend to rob two men of marijuana.

A 28-year-old DeLand man was charged Thursday with second-degree murder in the June 15 drug-related stabbing death of William Rodriguez, 29, also of DeLand.Sammy Lee Mitchell, Boston Avenue, has been in the Volusia County Jail since June 26, when he was arrested on drug charges that stemmed from a drug raid in DeLand.Elston Santiago, 23, East Hubbard Avenue, DeLand, was charged July 3 with second-degree murder in the death.Rodriguez, who was the driver in a car with Santiago and another man, tried to drive away after he was stabbed in the neck but passed out a few blocks away, police said.

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office charged three people in a drug-related kidnapping of a Kissimmee man on Sunday. Rami Maswadeh, 19, Bridgett Schoen, 21, both of Kissimmee, and Carl Pate, 20, of Intercession City were charged with kidnapping an adult for ransom. According to spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain, an acquaintance received a call after 1:15 a.m. Sunday from the kidnapping victim — whose name has not been released — saying he needed $2,000 for his safe return. She reported the possible kidnapping to deputies and received another call from one of the suspects.

As the families of two Orlando men made funeral arrangements Monday, authorities were still trying to determine whether the men overdosed on drugs. Santiago Jaramillo, 19, and David W. Steib, 20, died Sunday at Orlando Regional Lucerne Hospital. They became ill after being kicked out of a club on Lee Road. A third man, Roy T. Jenkins Jr., 22, of Kissimmee was released from the hospital Monday. Orange County sheriff's investigators said they think the men purchased marijuana and pills at Cyberzone, an all-night bottle club, around 1:30 a.m. and possibly overdosed.

Four men were shot to death in a drug-related holdup at a car wash in this gang-infested community south of Los Angeles, police said Monday. The owner of Wheels N Stuff and three of his employees were shot repeatedly Sunday by gunmen who police said were looking for drugs and cash. It was the second quadruple slaying in Compton this month to be blamed on drug dealing.

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao -- The government announced new police measures to bring down drug-related killings in Curacao, saying violent crime had reached a crisis level in this Dutch Caribbean territory. Justice Minister Ben Komproe said police would begin roadside document checks, and large groups would be banned from gathering in certain areas. Komproe also said Thursday that he would ask parliament to suspend laws limiting the time police can detain suspects without charges. The Dutch Antillean coast guard may step up offshore patrols to stop smugglers in fast boats from depositing drug shipments on deserted beaches.

Relatives and friends of some of the six people killed during the weekend agree with investigators - it was probably drug-related. Three days after the four men and two women were shot and stabbed to death in this southeast Georgia hamlet, police said Monday they have made no arrests. But working with investigators from the Miami area, home to four of the victims, they say they have plenty of leads. One of the victims went to Miami monthly to pick up cocaine, they said.

Two men suspected in a drug-related revenge killing two weeks ago were recently arrested.The Orange County Sheriff's Office charged Christopher Murphy, 19, with second-degree murder in the killing of Bobby Dye, 37, on April 17.Murphy, who is being held without bond at the Orange County Jail, has prior arrests for carrying a concealed handgun and grand thefts.Andrew Peterson, 18, was charged with perjury and accessory after the fact. Peterson was freed on bond.Dye died after being shot by a man who pulled a gun on him and his brother, Jerry Dye, at Cochester Street and Shongi Avenue.

The killing of a militant Wesleyan University student was related to drugs, not his civil rights activism, police said. Investigators said Nicholas Haddad was killed by companions who feared reprisal after they lost or misspent a large sum of the money he invested in a drug deal. Haddad's body was found in his car July 6. Carl Lightner, 20, was charged Thursday with murder and conspiracy in his death, officials said. He is in custody on an unrelated drug charge. An arrest warrant also was issued for Kumar Viswanathan, 21, who is still at large.

The number of oxycodone-related deaths in Orange and Osceola counties - where hundreds of people accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs in recent years - plunged during the first half of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to new data released by the state. The local statistics mirror a statewide trend showing deaths related to the powerful, addictive painkiller oxycodone are on the decline, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement semi-annual report on the state's drug-related deaths.

Five teenagers and two adult from Kissimmee were arrested Thursday and two more adults are on the loose after Osceola County deputies say a drug transaction turned to a fight and ended in gun fire. Stephanie Brannan,30, and Edwin Riveria, 18, were arrested along with the five juveniles, ranging in age from 15 to 17. All seven face charges related to the rioting. The two other adults, Angel Torres-Bonet and Gamalier Marrero-Aponte, both 20, are on the run. Anyone with information that leads to their arrests is asked to call CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS.

A man was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center after he was shot in what Orange County deputies think was a drug-related incident. The man, whose name has not yet been released, was shot just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the 5500 block of Old Cheney Highway. The area is just west of Semoran Boulevard in east Orange County. There is a chance the victim knows the suspect because the shooting was drug-related, said Capt. Angelo Nieves, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office . No arrests have been made at this time and detectives are in the area interviewing witnesses in hopes of finding information that will lead them to the shooter.

LEESBURG – Deputies arrested three people on drug-related charges after a house fire that might have been tied to a meth lab. Leslie Cummings, Michele Crutchfield and Gerald Vilani were all arrested after a fire broke out in the back of a house they were occupying at 1785 Timber Ridge Circle Wednesday. Probation officers came to the house, accompanied by officers from the narcotics unit who had information that a meth lab may be present, said sheriff's Sgt. James Vachon.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers charged four men with grand theft and drug possession after they sped away from them during a traffic stop inside a stolen vehicle Thursday night on Interstate 4, officials said. A trooper pulled a car over about 11:40 p.m. on I-4 near State Road 50 after he ran the license plate and discovered that the vehicle was stolen, according to FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes. The driver sped away and troopers chased it a short distance to a parking lot off of Pinehurst Avenue, where the men jumped out of the car and fled on foot.

TWO YOUNG men, one white and one black, were murdered in separate killings in St. Cloud last month. The police and most citizens agree that both murders were drug-related. If drugs were available at local retail outlets, neither crime would have happened. If drugs were legal, almost all drug- related crime would cease.Legalize, and tax, drugs.William A. BlackST. CLOUD

THE GOVERNMENT'S war on drugs cannot be won if Congress does not create more federal judgeships, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said Sunday. One of every four criminal cases handled by the nation's federal courts is drug-related, Rehnquist said, adding, ''Some courts, especially in border states, are approaching the outer limits of caseload and fatigue from handling drug-related cases.'' In his annual year-end report on the federal court system, the chief justice said, ''From a federal law enforcement perspective, the war on drugs will fail if the judiciary is not given the judgeships necessary to do the job.''

FBI agents carried out an early-morning raid on an Orange County home today. The FBI's Safe Streets Task Force executed a federal search warrant at 7839 Stratford Boulevard, which is off Goldenrod Road in east Orlando, as part of an ongoing drug-related investigation, according to FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier. Two men were arrested and taken into federal custody, Couvertier said. Illegal contraband was also found at the home, he said. Two children found in the home, an infant and an 11-year-old, were handed over to the Department of Children & Families, according to DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner.

CLERMONT -- Gunfire shook a quiet south Lake neighborhood Friday as residents returned home from work and school to find two men dead on the lawn of a house neighbors suspected was a drug hub. Lake County deputies did not immediately identify the victims, described as young males possibly in their early 20s, at the Greater Hills subdivision off State Road 50 but said they did not live in the home. "I couldn't believe what I saw," said Clare Valant, who had just pulled into the driveway next door to the crime scene to drop off her 12-year-old granddaughter.